One Wag, Talking About the Fake Details of College Football Star Manti Te’o’s Fake Girlfriend: ‘Look at the Bright Side — No One Really Died.’ All Kidding Aside, Here Are the Reasons the Hoax Lasted as Long as It Did. Guest Commentary

[Hi. Chuck Ross here. This guest blog is written by David Klein. David and I go back almost 20 years. For all my time here at TVWeek, and for the four years before that when I was the media editor at our sibling publication Advertising Age, David has been my boss. A number of years before I met him, David was the ediior of Electronic Media, which is what TVWeek used to be called. David and I have worked together so long now that we can finish each other’s sentences. Politically, David and I rarely agree. However, when it comes to the subject of journalism, we rarely disagree. And I wholeheartedly agree with what David has written below. It first appeared in Ad Age, where David’s official title is Publishing/Editorial DIrector.]

By David Klein

How much blame should sports journalists take for subjecting us to months of fake details of the fake girlfriend claimed by Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o?

Certainly it seems to be a massive failure of reporting, a de-pantsing of sports journalism, to have so many smart writers taken in by a young man with an inspirational backstory. Yet many top sports reporters now say it’s not really their fault. They say they handled it like any normal person would — who wouldn’t believe such a nice young man in such tragic circumstances?

"Evidently, I’m not alone, because dozens of media outlets mentioned the girlfriend without wondering if she existed. In that situation, a reporter tries to talk to her family, other people who knew her — you fill in the edges of the story. But if you don’t get ahold of those people, would you really think, ‘Hey, this is probably just a hoax, and this girlfriend doesn’t exist’? Be honest."

Wrong question. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s a hoax. That’s not why reporters question things. They question because it’s their job and if they don’t do it, no one does. There’s a word for the people who happily repeat stories without independent fact-checking — we call them the audience.

That said, there’s no reason to ascribe bad motives to the reporters, or to think they’re not top-of-the-game, aggressive professionals, at least when they think they’re reporting news.

The happy, feel-good stories on Te’o and his tragic fake girlfriend had a business goal, and everyone was party to it, consciously or not: sell papers, sell TV ads, sell the Notre Dame football program, sell Te’o himself. The reporters swallowed the marketing spin whole hog.

Nonetheless, it’s still astonishing that not one editor at any of these major national sports-news outlets insisted on even the most basic fact-checking. No one wanted to talk to the dead girlfriend’s pals or family, or see any record whatsoever of her history?

"In researching it before I wrote the script, I remember trying to find an obituary for his girlfriend and could not. And couldn’t find any record of this car accident. But we asked Manti, could we contact Lennay’s (the fake girlfriend’s) family and he said the family would prefer not to be contacted. Could we have some photos of Lennay? He said the family would prefer not to provide those.

"And so in that instance, and at that moment, you simply think that you have to respect those wishes."

No city editor I ever worked for — or sports editor, for that matter — would accept no checking whatsoever on a story of this size. Especially when the first queries keep coming back … blank.

At least now we know one way to pull the wool over the nation’s major sports outlets: Ask them to respect your wishes. I bet there are a lot of politicians who wish they could pull that off. They should go into sports instead.

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3 Comments

Two things here that need further exposure. With very few exceptions, there hasn’t been sports journalists for quite some time. We have thousands of sports entertainment writers/reporters but few if any journalists. The other point is another group that just repeats without fact checking would be Fox News. At least you pointed out correctly that in this situation you just follow the money (you’re own paycheck) and don’t make too much noise about it.

The problem is all these “writers” thinking with the wrong head. They all had such a giant boner thinking about this “AMAZING STORY,” that they were too blinded to be bothered to actually do their jobs. It’s just another typical indictment of journalism today. David said it completely: “They question because it’s their job and if they don’t do it, no one does. There’s a word for the people who happily repeat stories without independent fact-checking — we call them the audience.”

“They say they handled it like any normal person would — who wouldn’t believe such a nice young man in such tragic circumstances?” If you are going to call yourself a journalist, you do not handle it like any normal person. Journalism is about fact finding and confirming details.